'Patis' is fish sauce in Filipino. Baking and cooking up a storm in England.

Wednesday, 15 January 2014

Family Spaghetti Bolognese

My kids are such pasta fans that we cook Italian-style spaghetti bolognese almost every week. After several years, our version of the recipe has evolved from the usual elaborate one I used to do to this most basic recipe that we use week in, week out. With this one, I just throw in whatever is available. Sometimes it's all chopped tomatoes and no passata, sometimes it's red wine or none at all, most of the time there are no chicken livers or I forget to add Worcestershire sauce. Other times there are even no carrots nor celery. It's quite versatile such that most ingredients are optional. And you can tweak it as much as you like as long as there is that mandatory ingredients of minced meat and tomatoes (of whatever form).

In a pan (preferably non-stick), drizzle some olive oil and heat it up. Brown the minced meats in batches. Set aside.

If using chicken liver - wipe the pan and heat up some more olive oil or butter. Cook the chicken liver until well cooked and crumbly - about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, then using a fork mash it up. If need be, finely chop some of the bits of liver that refuse to get mashed.

In a big stewing pot, heat the 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil and gently fry the bacon until it changes colour.

Add in the garlic and cook until aromatic.

Stir in the onion and cook gently for about 4-5 minutes or until translucent.

Turn up the heat to medium and add the carrots and celery. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.